Chapter Text
It had been a day since PSG released their statement. Neymar was, above all, happy Kylian came out of this mess almost unscathed. He would have never forgiven himself if the younger player suffered because of him.
Speaking of Kylian, it was getting harder to deny his feelings for the latter. Yes. You heard that right, he loved the younger man, have loved him for a long, long time but he never allowed himself to act upon it or even acknowledge it. There was too much to lose.
He had been forced to handle the harshest of situations-from almost being paralyzed to experiencing the worst side of social media-but losing his golden boy might just be the thing to finally break him. So, confessing was out of question but, boy, did Kylian make it difficult.
When Kylian had barged into the restroom and saw Harry standing over him, the pure unadulterated rage in his eyes had surprised Neymar. Saying that the boy could not be aggressive when angry enough would be a lie but he had never been this unrestrained in his actions.
At that time, Neymar was too worried about the consequences to feel much else but now that he actually thought about it. About how Kylian could not control himself when it came to him. He was almost happy. Who was he kidding, he was fucking elated and he hated himself for it. He was supposed to be a role model for the younger man yet here he was, happy that Kylian punched a guy for him.
Ney could not help it though. No one had stood up for him or cared about him the way Kylian never failed to. His lack of hesitation, his reassuring words, his silent but no less comforting touches. The boy understood him better than most. He always seemed to know what to say to help Neymar regain confidence or do to make Neymar feel better, safer. Not to mention that drop-dead gorgeous face and muscular body of his.
God help him.
A notification sounded from his phone, snapping him out of his thoughts. There was this too. It had been quite a while -years-since he had been capable of reading or watching content he was tagged in and comments under his own posts without worrying about having a mental breakdown right after.
At first, he had not known what to expect from the public. He thought that they might say he deserved it or that he was 'weak' because he could not stand up for himself. Logically, he knew some people would be on his side and would reach out to try to help in whatever way they can but he had not expected this much support. He had been trending on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook since yesterday. This was nothing out of the ordinary per se however for once, people were not insulting him. They were comforting him.
There were thousands upon thousands of tweets and posts wishing him a good recovery. So many people were mad on his behalf. They criticized Psg's security measures and the hate the person who had hurt him was getting was downright scary -despite no one knowing who it was.
He had almost cried when Kylian made him read the comments people left under his most recent post on twitter. He was not ashamed to say that he had avoided looking at his phone prior to that. You could not blame him. However, he found the courage to scroll through his home page of all of his socials and for once had not regretted it.
Not only had the general public posted their support but also fellow players, coaches and celebrities. Most of his closest friends had opted to text him rather than post something online and he had multiple missed calls as well.
In response he merely tweeted a rather formal tweet saying that he was feeling better already and not to worry about him. He then thanked everyone for their support and reassured them that he was resting for now and would keep them updated.
He wanted to say more than that, to show them exactly how happy he was, God he really did, but he could not bring himself to. He was drained after the emotional roller-coaster he had just gone through. He wanted to thank them in the best way he could and he would not be able to do that right now.
He still felt bad for not texting and calling his friends back immediately, he knew he was worrying them even more but Thiago reassured him that they would understand. He needed to 'recharge' -as Marco put it-before interacting with anyone for now, since all of the coming conversations were bound to get emotional and he was not ready yet. He just wanted to forget for now. Just for one day.
"Ney!" Kylian called as he entered the room. The younger man had wanted to stay at his house for another day. 'For emotional support' he had said.
"Yes, Kyky?" Neymar smiled at him, all worries forgotten at the younger man's presence.
"Let's watch a movie." Kylian grinned back and sat next to the older man on the couch.
"What movie do you want to watch, Kyky?" Ney tried to subtly scout a little closer to the the man.
Unbeknownst to the Brazilian, Kylian noticed his movements. His heart fluttered, happy that Ney wanted to sit closer to him. Kylian placed his arm on the couch, right behind the older man's lean shoulders.
The former humed lowly then replied, "You decide."
"Uh, how about Money Heist?"
Kylian chuckled, shaking his head. "Again?"
"I mean we don't have to if you don't want-" Neymar stammered out, he did not want to bore the other man. He knew he watched Money Heist way too often, especially with Kylian. He just adored watching his favorite series with his favorite person.
"Of course I want to. I was just teasing you, I'm sorry for laughing." Kylian dropped his arm from the couch and wrapped it around Neymar, not being able to resist touching the Brazilian when he was sitting so close to him. And he felt bad when he registered the man's nervous tone, he truly did want to watch it with him. He'd watch the most boring show known to man if that was what Ney wanted.
Plus it was not as if he were going to pay attention to the TV anyway. Not when Neymar was wearing an oversized hoodie which gave him sweater paws. It was so big on him that he looked even smaller than usual. Who allowed this man to be this adorable, Kylian groaned internally, squeezing Neymar's nape.
Ney beamed at him and quickly put on the series before laying his head on Kylian's lap and pulled his knees to his chest, unaware of the effect his actions had on his golden boy.
The latter froze for a moment and stared at the Brazilian. That particular genuine, unrestrained smile of his had to be the most beautiful thing Kylian had ever seen.
He knew the shorter man would not notice his staring, he always gave that show his undivided attention-which Kylian found adorable- so he unabashedly checked him out. The hoodie Neymar was wearing resembled his French national team's jersey. The color was exactly the same and it even had the French flag on it.
Kylian immediately started stroking the Brazilian's curls when he leaned his head backwards and prayed that he did not move any more. He was afraid Ney would feel the growing bulge in his pants.
Seeing his colors on Neymar made him imagine doing things to the smaller man that would probably give him a special place in hell.
He had a very long night ahead of him.
In the back of his mind, Kylian hoped this would be enough to get Ney's mind off of everything. At least, for today. He needed a small break.
Neymar's Barcelona and Brazilian teammates would want to know what had happened. There was also the press conference.
The following days were going to be everything but calm.
Camp Nou, Barcelona
"Have you heard from Ney?" Suarez asked the figure sitting beside him.
Messi turned away from his teammates who were doing drills to look his phone on reflex.
"No." He replied, grimacing. They had all read his tweet but it was not enough to reassure them. At all. It sounded way too formal to be completely genuine.
Apart from that post, Neymar had been radio silent since Paris Saint-Germain released that dreadful statement. He had not replied to even one of their texts or calls. Their relationship may not be like it once was but Neymar had never taken this long to reply to either of them.
Suarez clenched his fist. He was angry. Not at Neymar but at whoever hurt him. Neither of them believed it was a random person, Neymar had looked like a shadow of himself in the photos posted by the media. Not to mention the match that was on the day before with that damn audience.
Leo and he had watched the game together. If they could have jumped into the screen of their TV and yell some sense into the audience they would have.
Don't get them wrong, they saw how the Paris Saint-Germain players -some were their own national teammates- tried to defend Ney and comfort him whenever they could but they both had a soft spot for the Brazilian. Seeing him play so calmly scared them. The younger usually wore his heart on his sleeve.
For the first time in his life, Leo wanted Neymar to play aggressively, he wanted him to pick fights, to argue with the referee, to do anything. Because at least then he'd recognise the Neymar he was watching on the screen.
They were already worried and the 'attack' incident was cherry on the cake.
"Why don't you two go see him?" Iniesta asked as he approached them.
They looked up at him in surprise.
He smiled softly and continued, "You're not playing next week and you can't seem to be able to concentrate in training."
"How are you so calm?" Leo blurted out before he could stop himself.
Iniesta smiled again, it was weaker this time. "I'm worried too but Ney's in good hands, Thiago loves him to bits and Mbappé seems pretty fond of him too, no? Plus don't you trust Paredes, Di Maria and Cavani to take care of him?"
Both Luis and Leo looked away, they did trust their teammates and they knew how much Thiago and Mbappé adored Ney -Neymar himself had told them all the things they do for him- but his photos and bandaged hand haunted their minds like a faulty neon sign.
Iniesta stared at them for a moment and sighed inaudibly.
"Go. You won't miss anything here. We want to know how he is doing too."
Leo looked at the rest of his teammates who had stopped training to listen in to their conversation. They all wore concerned expressions and were looking at the two of them in anticipation. Everyone who had played with Neymar when he was still in Barcelona had been messing up the simplest of drills today. They could not focus to save their lives.
"C'mon, what's stopping you? Go see what our little troublemaker has gotten himself into this time." Xavi added. His tone was light yet worried at the same time.
Luis and Leo looked at each other before nodding simultaneously.
"Yes, we'll go."
Rafinha smiled in relief and said, "Make him video call us when you see him."
"Oh, definitely."
Neymar could not go radio silent on them after being literally attacked. Deep down, they knew he probably had a good reason but right now, all they cared about was that someone had hurt their younger brother and none of them had been there for him.